Jollymaccoffee Coffee Glossary 2023

Crema
  Crema is the icon that distinguishes Italian espresso from other coffee extractions. Is the foam on the top of the espresso cup, its thickness must be about 3 mm, equal to 10% of volume (25-30ml). You can evaluate the quality of coffee used for the espresso by checking the crema: many tips play important roles like the color (nuance and intensity), the consistency (compactness and quality) and the persistence. Crema is also very important for the espresso tasting: it acts as a lid that preserve a lot of volatile aromas until tasting. So before tasting a good espresso remember to breaking the crema as well you can do with the crust in coffee cupping, in this way you will enjoy the cup with a multi sensory tasting.

Cup of excellence
Cup of excellence or (COE) A contest to decide which is the best coffee grown in a particular country. The COE uses the Specialty Coffee Association protocol to grade the coffee. Only coffees with a grade of 90/100 or higher can obtain this qualification. (Approximately 10% of specialty coffee)

Cupping
Also known as the Brazilian-tasting method. It is a tasting process utilized by the coffee professionals to test the coffee’s qualities. This tasting method consists of steeping coarsely ground coffee with hot water in shallow bowls, then the tasters sniff the coffee to smell the aroma and proceed to slurp the coffee and move it around their mouths to feel all the flavors.

Current Crop
A term indicating the harvest of the current year emphasizing the freshness of the product. Only these coffees are allowed for the Qualification of Specialty.

Dark Roast
A type of roast that takes a longer time, normally the coffee beans will lose a lot of their properties and become more bitter tasted.

Earthy
A characteristic of some coffees who tend to taste like earth or soil, normally Indonesian coffees have this kind of flavor, but many others do so too.

Espresso
A coffee beverage of Italian origin, normally a very strong which is regularly drunk in small quantities. Traditional espresso has very solid rules: 7 grams of ground coffee to obtain 30 ml of infusion in 25 seconds.

Extraction
The process of drawing the properties of ground coffee with hot or cold water.

Fairtrade
A program intended for the protection of the farmers that certifies that the coffee farmers had been paid a fair price for their coffee.

Filter coffee
A Coffee beverage that distinguishes itself from espresso by containing more water in the brewing ratio, and the absence of the crema. The regular dose is the “mug” (approx. 235ml) much larger than a 30 ml espresso cup. Filter coffee can be obtained with different methods such as immersion (French press) or pour over (Chemex).

Flat White
An espresso with a high quantity of steamed milk.

French Press
Also known as coffee plunger or caffetierè, is a coffee maker invented by the Italian Ugo Paolini in 1929.

Green Beans
Coffee Beans before the roasting process.

Grind size
In order to correctly extract all of the coffee flavors and the caffeine, coffee beans must be ground. The ground measure varies according to the brewing time and the extraction method and the utilized tools.

Hand picking
A harvesting method which consists of selecting only the mature beans by hand, it guarantees a much higher quality. This is the only accepted method by the Specialty Coffee Association. 

History of Coffee
Early evidence says that coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia and then exported to Yemen. If you want to know more you can read our blog post about the History of Coffee. 

Immersion
As its name implies immersion is an extraction method which consists of immersing the coffee grounds in water and letting the water extract the flavors and aroma. One well-known immersion coffee maker is the French press, also there’s a cold brew immersion method.

Kopi Luwak
Also known as “World’s most expensive Coffee” is a type of Coffee made with the help of a little cat-like animal named Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus Hermaphroditus) native to southeast Asia. Coffee cherries are eaten and then excreting the partially digested beans, and theoretically, it makes the flavor of the coffee even better. Given the difficulty of finding the civet droppings in the wild, and having to collect them by hand the price is inflated so much that it has been renamed as the most expensive coffee. The problem with this coffee is that because of its high demand, some farmers started caging the animals and feeding them only coffee cherries thus restricting their diet and making them suffer in the process, that’s why many activists have called out companies that sell that coffee and asking the public to not consume this product.

Latte
Latte literally means milk in Italian, and this beverage is made with a shot of espresso and a lot of latte!

Latte Art
The art of decorating coffee drinks with steamed milk, it only serves aesthetical purposes and does not change the flavor whatsoever.

Lungo
An espresso with a longer extraction time, it contains more water so its flavor is less strong than the regular espresso.

Macchiato
Macchiato means stained in Italy, it consists of a shot of espresso topped (stained) with a dab of foamed milk.

Micro-lot
Artisanal coffee that comes from a single farm, regularly of a higher quality than the standard.

Mocha
It is a drink composed of a shot of espresso, chocolate syrup, steamed milk, and sometimes whipped cream.

Moka
The traditional Italian home coffee maker, it was invented by Engineer Alfonso Bialetti in 1933, this classical coffee maker can be found in most Italian households and all over the world.

Natural/dry processing
It is a process in which the coffee cherries are left to dry under the sun before being pulped and de-hulled. The result is a very sweet coffee compared to the washed process.

Portafilter
The filter basket and handle on an espresso machine.

Pour-over coffee
An extraction method invented in Germany by Melitta Bentz which consists of pouring water in a steady and slowly manner over a filter cone which contains the ground coffee.

Purines

Purine alkaloids are widely distributed within the plant kingdom. However, their occurrence is limited to dicotyledonous species, preferentially in tropical and subtropical climates. Caffeine and theobromine, methylated derivatives of xanthine, are generally the main purine alkaloids and are regularly accompanied in low concentrations by the two methylxanthines theophylline, paraxanthine, as well as by methylated uric acids such as theacrine. Purine alkaloids are, botanically and geographically, a widespread component of human diet. Optimum environmental conditions and medium composition allow good growth and alkaloid production rates in both callus and suspension cultures. Purine alkaloid system is a suitable model for investigating in vitro production of secondary compounds. The key advantages are: (a) the presence of only two alkaloids that may easily be analyzed quantitatively by high performance liquid chromatography; (b) selection of cell lines with relatively stable productivity on the basis of cell aggregation characteristics; and (c) a large body of background information concerning physiological and ecological properties of purine alkaloids that is essential in developing new strategies for synthesis of natural products by means of tissue culture biotechnology. Purine alkaloid formation accelerates during the cultivation time, which means that most of the final amount of purine alkaloids is synthesized after the exponential period of growth.

Puck 

The small black disk created when the coffee is compressed in the portafilter, it is called puck because it looks like a hockey puck. 

Ristretto
Ristretto means restricted in Italian, it is an espresso pulled short, less water quantity, creating a super-concentrated shot of espresso. To be considered a ristretto it can have a maximum of 20 ml of drink.

Roasting
The process of heating the beans to be able to extract the great flavors of the bean. During the roasting process, the coffee beans tend to lose most of their humidity they then start getting brownish and depending on the roasting time the darker they will get. This process is vital to the development of the flavors that will then be extracted on a cup.

Roast date
The roast date is used to keep an eye on the freshness of the beans, a rule of thumb is that roasted coffee lasts fresh for about 2-3 months, depending on the type of roast and the way it is stored, but if you want to be more precise you should ask your roaster directly how long it stays fresh.

Roasting Degree
Roasting degree refers to how light or dark is the bean after the roasting process, there are many types of roasting such as first crack, city roast, full city, second crack, Vienna, French roast, charcoal, etc..

Roast profile
A roast profile represents the effects of how the airflow and the heat are controlled during the roasting which determines how quickly the beans arrive at a roasting degree.

Robusta
The second of the two main species of coffee, its scientific name is Coffea Canephora and it is characterized by having a smaller and rounder bean. Its organoleptic profile is less rich and complex compared to that of the Arabica. Usually, it is used in mixes intended for espresso because it gives a strong bitter note and a more consistent crema. It has a higher index of caffeine than arabica and because of this motive, it is usually not used for the filter coffee. From a botanical point of view, the Robusta plant is more studier and more productive than its similar Arabica.

Q Grading
Q grading is the process of the coffee being analyzed by professionals called Q graders, whose job is to evaluate the coffee and in that way determine its quality and its market value.

Seasonal coffee
Coffee is an agricultural product with its own seasonality, that varies depending on the producing countries. A seasonal coffee refers to the small/medium production lots. Because its processes are less industrialized and normally a higher quality it means that these beans will not be available all year long. Seasonal coffee is different from commercial coffee because commercial coffee has such great volumes that it can be available all year long.

Semi-washed honey process 
This style of processing the coffee which is a mix of the dry processing and the washed

These terms often refer to the same style of processing, where the first stages of the above are followed up until the cherries are pulped. Then, instead of fermenting the coffee in tanks, it is sent to be dried while the mucilage is still intact and stuck to the seeds. As the seeds dry, the mucilage loses a good deal of moisture but can contribute a greater degree of sweetness to the seeds (perhaps because less fermentation is taking place, meaning fewer sugars are being consumed by microorganisms). Once dried, the seeds may be washed to remove the stuck on pulp, or simply proceed to de-hulling. The green coffee seeds may also be dried again to reach the desired moisture content, as drying coffee in this state can take longer than the washed process. This process can also introduce complications that lead to flavor degradation, including mold growth, rot, and pests which are attracted to the sweet-tasting mucilage as it dries in the open air. These coffees must be carefully attended to during drying to properly maintain their flavor.

Single Origin
A type of coffee which is not a blend, to be considered single origin it has to come from only one producing country, sometimes from a specific region or plantation 

Syphon
A coffeemaker that utilizes vacuum pressure and a series of containers for brewing the coffee.

Specialty coffee
For a Coffee bean to be qualified as “Specialty” it has to be graded at least 80 points or more out of 100, this grading system was invented by the (SCA: Specialty Coffee Association) and it is used on green beans, so this means that the grading is done with the raw material and it does not account for any post-processes such as roasting. 

 Strip picking
A harvesting method which consists in stripping all the coffee cherries in a branch, usually also the leaves. In this way, the harvest is not homogeneous because alongside the mature cherries there will also be unripe and over mature cherries. This method is usually used for massive plantations with low quality. Strip picking can be done by hand or with mechanical devices made for this purpose.

Tamper
A device that is used to press the ground coffee into the coffee basket to prepare it for extraction.

Terroir
Terroir is a French expression that comes from terre “earth”, it means a well-defined area and the set of all the environmental characteristics that affect a crop or a product. It is also used in other industries such as wine, agave, tomatoes, chocolate, maple syrup, and cannabis. It includes conditions such as type of soil, average temperature, elevation, atmospheric pressure, annual rainfall, amount of sunlight, etc…

Terroir is a very important characteristic when during the Specialty Coffee grading process.

Trigonelline
Another natural alkaloid present in coffee, it is responsible for the diuretic properties of this drink.

Old Crop
A term indicating the harvest of the previous year. This coffee can still be roasted and consumed but its organoleptic profile will be much poorer than a Current Crop.

V60
V60 is Hario’s signature drip brewer, it is name comes from the 60-degree angle of the cone’s profile.

Wet/washed processing
This method involves using water through most of the steps of Coffee processing, and it is considered to be the best method to achieve high-quality coffees.